Former Ravens, Browns owner Art Modell dies

Former Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell died early Thursday, a longtime NFL stalwart who helped guide the league toward great riches but also incurred fans' wrath by moving the Browns out of town.

The Ravens said the 87-year-old Modell died at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he had been admitted Wednesday. His son, David, said the death was from "natural causes."

The Pittsburgh Steelers posted this short statement on their website, attributed to Chairman Dan Rooney:

"Art Modell was a good friend to our family and he will be sadly missed. He was instrumental in helping the National Football League become what it is today, and he always had the league's best interest at hand. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family as he will be missed dearly by the Steelers organization and the Rooney family."

Modell was among the most important figures in the NFL as owner of the Browns, which became the Ravens after he took the team to Baltimore in 1996.

"I have a great legacy, tarnished somewhat by the move," he said in 1999. "The politicians and the bureaucrats saw fit to cover their own rear ends by blaming it on me."

"It's a shame that one decision hurt how some people think of him, because he did so much good," longtime former Browns lineman Doug Dieken said Thursday.

During his four decades as an NFL owner, Modell helped negotiate lucrative television contracts, served as president of the league and chaired negotiations for the first collective bargaining agreement with players.

He was the driving force behind the 1970 contract to televise NFL games on Monday nights.

"Art Modell's leadership was an important part of the NFL's success during the league's explosive growth during the 1960s and beyond," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "Art was a visionary who understood the critical role that mass viewing of NFL games on broadcast television could play in growing the NFL."

There's a $30,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of a bank robbery trio known as the Black Hat Bandits, suspected in a two-month string of robberies across Maryland and Virginia, the latest coming Monday.